Bolaji Ogundele, Abuja
The governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, has assured that the All Progressives Congress (APC) would come out of its current leadership crisis stronger.
The governor also gave the assurance that the party would recover Edo State in its next election and repeat the same feat in Ondo, Anambra and Ekiti states when their governorship elections would be held.
Bello spoke to State House Correspondents on Monday evening after a meeting with the Chief of Staff to the President, Professor Ibrahim Gambari by governors of the North-central states, at the Presidential Villa.
He said the current crisis was not a division of the party, but a situation where different interests within the party have been seeing the same point from different angles.
“Our party is one solid party. In a particular big family like that, you won’t rule out any misunderstanding in one way or the other. But I can assure you that our party is strong under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari and as a father, he is already looking into it and I can assure you that we are going to come out very strong.
“We are going to go to Edo State and we shall win Edo state election overwhelmingly for APC, we are going to go to Ondo state and win it overwhelmingly for APC. We will take Anambra State and record it as a second APC state from the South East and integrate our Igbo brothers into the fold and we are going to take Ekiti and Osun once again.
“So, we are going to continue to expand our coast. So, APC is strong we are not divided, we are only seeing one same point from different angle and we are trying to make ourselves understand the points, that is just it, there is no misunderstanding”, he said.
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He, however, expressed sympathy for the governor of Edo State, Mr Godwin Obaseki, saying notwithstanding his incumbency, the APC would take the state back from his new party during the upcoming election.
“We have seen those in power before that are dethroned, we have seen practically that President Muhammadu Buhari of APC dethrone PDP, the former President that was on seat. So, that is not any trouble at all.
“APC is going to win Edo State. But unfortunately, I really felt the leaving of my colleague, His Excellency governor Godwin Obaseki, in whatever circumstance to another political party, it is painful anyway, but as a political party we are going to take it back,” he said.
Asked of the efforts being made by the Special Committee on Security in the North-Central, which he heads, he said the task for his team is to liaise with appropriate security formation so as to make the region the safest.
“So basically, my committee is to liaise with the various security agencies and security operatives to ensure that the necessary security architecture is put in place and to ensure that at the end of the day, we get the best secured region and that of the country at large,” he said.
On the reason for the visit to the Chief of Staff, Professor Gambari, he said “we came to congratulate him over the appointment and that we will continue to collaborate with him as North-Central governors and we will continue to provide necessary data and information that will guide him in discharge of his duties and responsibilities and to guide Mr. President as far as the region is concerned. So basically that is what we came for”.
Other governors of the North-Central who were at the meeting included those of Niger, Sani Bello; Kwara, Abdulhahman Abdulrazak; Nasarawa State, Engr. Abdullahi Sule; and Plateau, Simon Lalong in attendance.
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